CONSOLIDATION GATHERS PACE

15 May 2013

Stories about mergers and
acquisitions in the legal sector tend to get The Lawyer in
triumphant mood, so recent scoops on Slater & Gordon's plans as
well as tie ups between Greenwoods and Parabis have had that mag in
particular speculating about what's next.

May has so far been the month of
mergers and consolidation as this widely predicted dynamic has
begun to take hold. Early in the month the Lawyer reported how
Parabis and Greenwoods had announced their intention to merge,
while Australian-based Slater & Gordon revealed a trio of
takeover targets in Simpson Millar, Goodmans Law and the personal
injury practice of Taylor Vinters.

In the North West, Anthony Hodari
Solicitors' latest acquisition of Tandem Law was described by Chief
executive Mark Grover, as "continuing our post-LASPO strategy of
sensible diversification".

Amidst all of these stories on
consolidation the Lawyer's rival magazine Legal Week indicated the
profession was in fact 'losing its lustre' as students mull
alternative career options. Legal Week Intelligence's annual Law
Student Report, which this year surveyed more than 3,000
undergraduate and postgraduate law students, found just 60% of
undergraduate law students want to pursue a career as a solicitor,
with the proportion declining from 80% in 2010.

Here at PremExtra we are fond of a
little perspective and it seems pertinent that should a similar
percentage of undergraduates be dead set on a career in, say,
insurance, that industry might have a significantly higher popular
profile than it currently enjoys.